카사 히타노

A true case of insta vs reality - I visited Gitano Beach Club in Dubai and loved it, which was one of the reasons I decided to stay at Casa Gitano in Tulum, unfortunately it did not meet expectations. Casa Gitano paints itself as a premium hotel but, once a guest there, aside from the comfortable bed and access to the beautiful beach, everything else about it feels budget despite paying a premium cost. First of all, in the room they’re charging 90 pesos for basic Starbucks coffee pods and cheap unbranded teabags as well as 120 pesos for water. I’ve stayed in the most budget hotels and Airbnbs and never had to pay for these basic necessities, it feels tacky to charge for this when you pay so much for the room. Further to this, the shower was cold in our room which is something you don’t expect when staying in a more premium hotel. The biggest issue we experienced was with breakfast. On the Casa Gitano website, it states that guests will receive a complimentary breakfast, this is not true. We arrived for breakfast and were told we did not have it included, I showed them their own website and they doubled down, stating that it was marketing’s fault, that the information was wrong and even though it’s written publicly, those that haven’t purchased a breakfast package won’t receive breakfast. We disputed this further and were then offered a “continental breakfast” for the remainder of our stay as compensation. Imagine our surprise when we arrive for breakfast the next day having had to fight tooth and nail for them to honour their website FAQs, only to be given ONE singular slice of toast each as the “continental breakfast”. Bread is literally one of the cheapest food items in the world, the least you can do is give a standard portion size. Furthermore, this hotel is extremely far down the hotel zone, you do need a car if you plan on staying here as there’s not much around it, taxis are extortionate and colectivos don’t tend to start this far down the road. Be warned if you do plan to drive though, as Casa Gitano is a good 25 mins drive down a skinny road full of potholes, large speed bumps and other obstacles and it isn’t lit at night so if you’re a nervous driver at all, I wouldn’t recommend it. All in all, this honestly feels like the equivalent of a budget airline, does the job on the surface but you’re charged for everything at every turn, ultimately leaving a terrible impression as a customer which isn’t what you expect when staying somewhere as beautiful as this - it’s a real shame and management need to do something about it if they want to succeed. Ultimately, for the same price point, you can get a much nicer hotel on the same strip, closer to bars, restaurants and shops and the centre of Tulum where the experience matches what you pay for. Final note to add, the staff were lovely, especially the people in the parking lot and at the front reception. They did try to help us where possible, it’s a shame that a lot of the things that let this hotel down are out of the staff’s control. We got the impression that people complain about similar things a lot in a probably lot more aggressive manner than us and it’s clearly creating frustration and upset for the workers which is a huge shame.